The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1887-12-25
Cooperation.

Cooperation.
TIE Sun not long since, by means OF Its
correspondents, spread before the public the
history Of q great number Of attempts at CO.
Operation In different cities Of the United
States. The experiments were followed
through q long series Of years, and the lee
son taught seemed to be uniform and con-
elusive. The attempts had failed in every
instance where the experiment had been
long enough continued; and in the few In
stances OF alleged success, the report, 1t is to
be presumed, was derived from the new
managers, who found 1t for their interest to
give q rose-colored representation Of their
yet incomplete adventures.
To this long list Of disappointed efforts we
have just been obliged to add tho failure Of q
cooperative farm, under the control Of the
knights OF Labor, In Minnesota. Fraud and
incapacity are, Of course, the chief causes
assigned for this failure. They are always the
reported cause; but 1t Is certain that the want
OF success is not always due to either dis
honesty or lack Of talent. The best inten-
lions and the most brilliant administrative
qualifications could not make an essentially
false theory successful. The whole idea Of
industrial cooperation Is founded upon the
notion Of what Is termed a moro
equitable division of profits or earnings; and
1t had It's origin at o time when industrial,
commercial, and financial statistics were
comparatively unknown. There seemed In
the past and still seems to be a great In
equality Of fortunes; but the world Is becom-
ing forced to tho knowledge that. while 1t
would be easily possible to level society
down to nearly the lowest grade Of worldly
~opulence, it would be altogether impossible
to level it up to anything approaching the
highest.
Look at the subject in any statistical Light
OF which It is capable. Estimating upon the
census Of 1880, and giving room for tho
growth Of population and wealth in the
United States during the last seven years,
we have now COCOON o Inhabitants and
$50, 900, 900, 900 in the national estate. Let us
suppose that his total Of wealth nets 6 per
cent. to the owners. This will be q very lib
eral allowance; and on this return 1t will be
seen that the national income, derived from
accumulated property, Is So, 00o,O 900, 900 per
annum. Divide this total Of income among
the total Of population and it will give $50
to each person. That amount would clearly
be insufficient to abolish poorhouses or re-
claim beggars.
But this estimate may not be thought quite
satisfactory. The total Of earnings in the
United States has never been given, and pos
sibly it can never be quite accurately re-
ported. We know 1t to be large, reaching to
ten or twelve billion dollars per annum
among employees alone; and it Is believed
that employers. by some process Of hocus
pocus. multiply their own earnings vastly
above the amount that can be stated In the
form Of interest or dividends on invest
ments. This trick would DO impossible ave
to the extent that what Is called unearned
Increment comes in for the reinforce
ment Of capital. and adds about $28
per capita each year to the wealth
Of the country. But 1t is believed that en-
ployers possess this potent art, and the
suspicion lies at the bottom of all schemes
for industrial cooperation. What, again,
are the facts2 We cannot here use the
service Of the census taker with quite 80
much assurance as in the former calcula-
ton; but We can rely upon estimates which,
In this case, will be hardly less trustworthy
than the census. Say that o manufacturer
who employs 1000 workmen, at an annual
payment In wages of $500 for zach man,
spends $4,000 on his family. This IL
monstrous." exclaims the advocate Of q
more equitable division; "such Unequal
ity Ia enough to give inspiration and
force to bloody revolution" But sup
pose that the manufacturer distributes
the $40, 900 among his 1000 workmen. and
what would be the RESULT His uberality
ill 40 am a rrnon % TIA AEnO AI~~nNxv
received. In other words, the wages Of the
workmen will have been increased by 8 per
cent, $5on each 500. and at the end Of about
the second year the manufacturer, discour-
aged, would probably shut up his factory
and leave bis operatives without any income
whatever.
These are the facts that stand In the way
Of industrial cooperation. profit sharing, and
other kindred schemes for the amendment Of
social conditions. There Is nothing to divide
that can add appreciably to the Income of
the great body Of producers; and an intelli-
gent, energetic, and trained employer, intent
upon his OWL success. can always give better
terms to a body Of workmen than they can
secure for themselves through the perfume
tory services Of agents or managers. Tho
whole theory Of industrial cooperation rests
upon a misconception Of premises and a
foundation OF sand.
"Then we have you upon the hip" exclaims
the State Socialist. "None but a lunatic
would claim that prevailing social condi-
lions ought to be satisfactory; and II there
be no hope In cooperation. We must abolish
finance and place all the machinery Of pro-
duction In the hands Of the Government"
To confess the truth, those cratic phuoso-
pliers seem to be making converts In WASH
ington and elsewhere faster than may prove
for the good OF republican government at q
later day; but as their road to the millen-
mum lies through the palaces and the
demesne Of despotlsm. we must de-
cline to follow their lead. It has
not been said that there L. no hope
In cooperation. There is great hope In CO.
operation. 1t Is the chief and only hope Of
the race; and during the last half century 1t
has made larger strides than 1t made In all
the preceding years In the worlds history.
There Is only no hope In the kind Of CO.